Hamilton’s longest-serving mayor never stopped working for the community he loved.

That sounds like a cliché — except Bob Morrow literally spent the hours before his death working the phones to try to find a Sunday mass replacement organist for his beloved St. Patrick parish downtown.

His death Monday, at age 71, spurred a flood of online tributes Monday from friends, politicians of all stripes and even new Canadians welcomed by the former citizenship judge.

Morrow guided pre-amalgamation Hamilton as mayor from 1982 to 2000 and later stepped up in 2014 to fill a vacant Ward 3 council seat. But his passion for the community was visible outside of politics, too.

Morrow left “a number of messages” in the early hours of Sunday apologizing for missing mass at St. Patrick Roman Catholic Church where he served as organist for almost a decade, said Fr. Tony O’Dell by email. “In his last message he reminded me that this was the first time he missed a mass during his time with us. He will be remembered as a true statesman and kind-hearted man in our parish and beyond.”

That was his father in a nutshell, said son George Morrow.

Morrow, who kept his health challenges to himself as much as possible, tried to keep up with his volunteer commitments despite being on dialysis for months due to an undisclosed illness, said his son. He said a complicating lung infection interfered with his father’s treatment and hastened his death.

Morrow is survived by his two sons, George and Kerr.

“He was so passionate about (his church duties),” said George. “He was going into the hospital and he was still calling around, looking for a replacement. It mattered to him.”

Those sorts of stories followed Morrow throughout his political career. (Hamilton Spectator)

RIP Mayor Bob Morrow

News came yesterday of the death of Bob Morrow, Hamilton’s longest serving Mayor (1982-2000). His political career was coming to an end by the time I had arrived on the scene as the Spec’s editorial cartoonist in mid-1997. As the cartoons below illustrate, the issues he had been dealing with at the time were related to a declining downtown, ridicule of Hamilton, and the coming amalgamated city of surrounding communities into an expanded city of Hamilton. While he failed to attain enough votes to continue as mayor in 2000 he proved to be the biggest civic cheerleader of the city, and he served it well.

10,000 Syrian refugees to be resettled by year’s end, 15,000 more by February

The Liberal government will not meet its Dec. 31 deadline to resettle 25,000 Syrian refugees and now says it aims to complete the program by February.

The new target is to bring 10,000 people to Canada by year’s end and the remainder in the first two months of 2016.

The group will be a mix of government-assisted and privately sponsored refugees, all of whom will be identified by the end of next month.

The Canadian government is working with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees as well as the Turkish government to find suitable candidates.

Priority for government refugees will be given to complete families, women at risk, members of sexual minorities and single men only if they are identified as gay, bisexual or transgender or are travelling as part of a family.

Private sponsors have no restrictions on whom they can bring over and the majority of refugees expected to arrive by the end of the year will be coming via private groups.

All health and security screening will take place overseas and once that’s complete, refugees will be flown to Toronto and Montreal, largely on chartered aircraft.

From there, they will be spread across 36 different destination cities which already have resettlement programs in place.

Temporary accommodation will be provided by the military if required, but the government aims to have lodging in place in the host cities and towns.

The federal government cost for the program is an estimated $678 million over the next six years but doesn’t include additional funding that could be necessary for provinces and territories.

More than 500 officials have been assigned to work on the massive resettlement program, one of the largest of its kind in the world as it relates to the Syrian refugee crisis. (Source: Hamilton Spectator)

Muslim women sound off on ‘stupid’ niqab debate

Many prominent Muslim women in Canada say they have heard enough of the niqab debate and are ready for federal leaders to shift their sights toward issues, they say, matter.

The Canadian Council of Muslim Women held an event Sunday in Toronto to hand out awards and discuss concerns in their communities. There was also an opportunity for debate between political parties on where they stand on issues affecting Muslim women in Canada.

But the debate continued to focus on wedge issues rather than major themes affecting all Canadians. That did not sit well with some Muslim women, who say the topic is “just a way to gain votes” ahead of the Oct. 19 election.

“Right now, the federal government is talking about women and [the] niqab, which is not an issue, even for Muslims,” said Zarqa Nawaz, the creator of Little Mosque on the Prairie.

“We’re in a recession, what is the plan to go forward? Those are the things I want to talk about. Not about women in [the] niqab and why she can’t sing the national anthem with her face covered. That’s just stupid.”

Maryam Dadabyoy, community relations officer for the National Council on Canadian Muslims, appeared annoyed with the niqab conversation. She says the federal government should be inclusive of all Canadians.
“It’s an issue that won’t go away and it’s not even that important,” Dadabyoy said.

“We need to see a government that just makes us feel more a part of the community and not being ostracized,” she continued. “Not very many women do wear [the] niqab, but it’s being thrown in everyone’s face.” (Source: CBC News)